Tom Schroeder poses on the front porch of a pre Civil War house on the 400 block of Smith Avenue in St. Paul that he is having restored to its original state, Wednesday, July 16, 2014. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

A pre Civil War house on the 400 block of Smith Avenue in St. Paul is being restored by Tom Schroeder back to its original state, Wednesday, July 16, 2014. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

Decorative wrought iron flag pole holders adorn a pre Civil War house on the 400 block of Smith Avenue in St. Paul, Wednesday, July 16, 2014. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

Tom Schroeder points construction details in a historical photo of a pre Civil War house on the 400 block of Smith Avenue in St. Paul that he is having restored, Wednesday, July 16, 2014. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

Once common in the city thanks to an influx of German immigrants in the mid-19th century, German lager saloons were a social gathering point that served a little taste of the homeland. And while St. Paul today isn’t short on places to grab a beer, these culturally significant saloons, as with much from the era, have faded from memory.

But in one St. Paul neighborhood, work is underway on a time machine where the lager may someday pour again.

On Smith Avenue, between West Seventh Street and the High Bridge, sits the Anthony Waldman House, a pre-Civil War limestone building that has served as residence to generations of St. Paulites.

One of the oldest buildings still standing in the city, the property has been undergoing renovations for the past few years in an effort to restore it to what owner Tom Schroeder calls “its period of greatest significance.”

That period dates back to around 1860, when Anthony Waldman, a Bavarian immigrant, appeared to have been operating the property as a German lager saloon, said Schroeder, who scoured through records at the Minnesota Historical Society in an effort to piece together the property’s history.

“It turned out to have a very unique history that even architectural historians had missed,” said Schroeder, an attorney and preservationist who lives nearby in the Uppertown neighborhood.

Schroeder said he hopes to be able to turn the building into a living history that will serve historically accurate German lager in a “totally historic environment.”

Already a wood-burning stove is in place and the front facade has been replaced with one more representative of commercial buildings of the day, with large, blown-glass windows that provide a view to the outside that’s “a little unearthly,” Schroeder said.

“This is a time-travel opportunity that exists in only a few places in the country,” he said. “It’s a fabulous place to sit and just take in the atmosphere.”

Schroeder and his crew are being meticulous in the restoration work, documenting and repurposing items from the house as they are uncovered. Because of the attention to detail and work involved, Schroeder says it likely would be a couple years before any beer steins are filled.

“I have a long ways to go before any of that,” said Schroeder, who also will need city approval. “My principal obligation is to the building and the neighborhood.”

A RARE FIND

Denis Gardner, National Register historian with the State Historic Preservation Office, said the Anthony Waldman House has historical importance for the area.

The stone portion of the building dates to 1857, and the original single-story wood frame is a couple of years older. That makes it one of the oldest buildings standing in the city and, because St. Paul is one of the oldest communities in Minnesota, one of the oldest in the state, said Gardner.

“It’s a rare find to have something that old still be standing,” he said.

The State Historic Preservation Office surveyed the building sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, and it was known to be old — you could tell just by looking at it, Gardner said. But there was sparse information about the building until Schroeder delved into the records that offered glimpses into the house’s past.

“It wasn’t until Tom Schroeder started researching it that we really got the history of (the building),” Gardner said. “We know an awful lot more about this house than we ever did (before). He did a ton of research and created a really interesting story.”

At the time of its construction, the building was in one of St. Paul’s major commercial hubs. It was built on what was then called Forbes Street — now Smith Avenue — near the city’s Upper Landing, where Mississippi River traffic could stop. And it was also near Old Fort Road, the thoroughfare — now called West Seventh Street — that connected Fort Snelling to St. Paul.

Anthony Waldman, who came to St. Paul in 1856, sold wood to passing steamboats before entering the saloon business in 1858, according to Schroeder’s research, which places the saloon in the building at 445 Smith Ave. N.

“These were not bars; these did not serve much if any hard liquor,” Schroeder said of the German lager saloons of the day. “These were predominantly family places where Germans would go to drink their beloved lager beer.”

Waldman purchased the building in 1860 — the same year his occupation was listed in census records as “Lager Beer Saloon,” Schroeder found. It appeared Waldman operated the saloon until at least September 1862, and by 1864 he had moved into the grain business.

The building was then converted into a residential home and the commercial facade was filled in — a transformation that left the house no longer recognizable as a German lager saloon.

HIDING SOMETHING

Schroeder started noticing the home in 1992.

“There was just something about this house, other than the fact that it’s in stone, that just seemed different and unique,” he said. The door, for one thing, was not where it should have been.

“The whole thing looked like it was hiding something,” he said. “And of course it was.”

The house eventually became vacant, and Schroeder bought it in 2008. At the time, the building was “a wreck,” and he didn’t know exactly what he would do with the property, he said.

When he and architect John Yust started to explore the home and look behind walls, they found signs pointing to its history as a commercial building — a revelation, Schroeder said.

After discovering that it had once been a saloon, they began fantasizing about turning it back to its historical use.

Along with saving a structure’s heritage, preservation work like what Schroeder is doing is the “the ultimate in being green,” Gardner said, adding that he hopes to see more people preserve historic places.

Gardner, who advises those in the state seeking to put buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, said it would be problematic getting the building on the register because of changes to the facade, but he added that it’s good to know Schroeder is working to keep the building’s past alive.

“It’s nice that the house is going to be preserved,” he said. “It’s a great piece of St. Paul history.”

More information on the project can be found on its website, stonesaloon.com.

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